For reference, the course is titled: Self-Awareness and Intercultural Humility in Social Work
This assignment has 2 parts. I have attached the full instructions and a separate grading rubric specifying the breakdown of points below. Please carefully read the instructions for each part. You may respond within this document or in a separate Word document. In either case, please include a cover page with your name, date, instructor, and SOWK 630-Assignment 2. Please incorporate course readings, materials, and/or relevant outside sources, citing at least 5 different sources overall (at least 1 per question) – I will provide a list of readings and will bold the readings that should be used for sure, otherwise please just use the readings that are relevant to the assignment. I will also provide answers to questions listed in the instructions to answer Part 1 of the assignment.
Please thoughtfully consider and substantively respond to every component of each question using complete sentences, 12pt font, 1-inch margins, double-spacing, and APA 7th referencing style (in-text and reference list). Please be also very attentive to proper grammar, avoid run on sentences or repetitive ideas/sentences.
PART 1 QUESTIONS:
The following are different and amazing dimensions of my identity:
a) My age is: 28
b) My race/ethnicity is: Ashkenazi Jewish / White / Caucasian
c) In terms of race/ethnicity, I identify as: Ashkenazi Jewish
d) In terms of race/ethnicity, I think most people assume or consider me to be: White/Caucasian
e) I would describe my skin color as: White
f) My nationality is: American
g) I was raised primarily in (city, state, country): Los Angeles, CA, USA
h) The primary language(s) I spoke growing up was/were: Russian and English
i) In terms of gender, I identify as: Female
j) In terms of gender, I think most people assume or consider me to be: Female
k) My sexual orientation is: Straight
l) In terms of sexual orientation, I think most people assume or consider me to be: Straight
m) I am a person with a history of physical, mental/emotional, developmental/cognitive and/or other disability or health challenge (yes/no): Yes – I was always rather injury-prone even into adult life. I was also rather overweight throughout my adolescence and have always struggled with my weight.
n) While I was growing up, my familys socio-economic status was: Upper-Middle class
o) While I was growing up, my familys spiritual or religious affiliation was: Judaism
p) While I was growing up, my familys political party affiliation was: Democratic/Republican – No blind or complete loyalty to either party. I would describe us as generally Moderate.
q) Currently, I would describe my socio-economic status as: Middle Class (me independently without my family/parents)
r) Currently, my spiritual or religious affiliation is: Judaism
s) Currently, my political party affiliation is: Independent (Moderate)
t) Currently, my relationship or marital status is: Single
u) Optional: Share any other aspect(s) of your identity that are important to you: My parents are immigrants/refugees from the Soviet Union so although I was born in the U.S., my first language was Russian and that culture in terms of the language, music, and food, in addition to and in collaboration with my Jewish culture, have played a large role in the formation of my identity. I fully identify as a Russian Jew and have a large Russian Jewish local community that I have been a participant in my entire life with my family. Also, being the eldest and only daughter, first-generation American in my family, has also influenced my identity and my roles within my personal and family life. I have also seen those responsibilities and roles sometimes manifest in my professional roles in the past.
PART 2 QUESTIONS:
1) Please describe individual identity factors and intersections of your identity that have had the most significant impact on your development, behavior, and sense of self. In so doing, please consider your experiences with oppression and marginalization, as well as power and privilege, in various environments, contexts, and systems of your life (e.g., family, friends, school, work, neighborhood, religious/spiritual/faith communities, recreational/community organizations, geographical location, etc.).
I think my identity as a Russian Jew as well as my identity as a first-generation eldest daughter of immigrants has had the most significant impact on my development, behavior, and sense of self. My identity as a Russian Jew has influenced my identity within the world and connects me to a community and a history of people. My identity as a first-generation eldest daughter of immigrants has influenced much of my development in my roles within my family, friend, personal, and professional relationships. There is a level of responsibility that I feel I have to make sure everything operates smoothly, all problems are solved, I take on a lot of other people’s feeling, emotions, and problems and feel as though I carry the weight of the world on my shoulders at times. Almost as if I am responsible to ensuring the success, happiness, and overall wellbeing of all the important people in life – my parents, my brothers, my friends, etc. I am caretaker at heart and find it difficult to let others take care of me – I’m kind of a control freak and a perfectionist. In terms of marginalization and oppression, I have experienced some of that due my identity as a Jewish person as well as a person who speaks Russian. People jump to conclusions and make some quick judgments without knowing much about my background – especially with there being os much turmoiling Israel and Russian vs. Ukraine. My parents were born in the Soviet Union where everyone spoke Russian at the time, but after leaving, where they are from became Ukraine. People skip to conclusions because I speak Russian vs. Ukrainian and make assumptions about my allegiances. In terms of my Jewish identity, I have faced anti-semitic microaggressions, and have developed fear around being targeted as a Jew with the rise of antisemitism in the world right now although I have always been proud of that identity.
2) Please discuss how these individual identity factors, intersections of identity, and life experiences have influenced your decision to pursue a professional social work career. Please include a description of the population(s) and/or social issue(s) of greatest interest to you, as well as the type of professional work you hope to pursue upon graduation. Please also incorporate into your response any population(s) and/or social issue(s) that you definitely prefer not to work with and why.
I think my both identities had led to my decision to pursue a professional social work career. As a Jewish person in the world right now, I am empathetic to cultures that come from a background of suffering and understand the level of generational guilt that comes with that as well. I understand those family and development dynamics well and I wish there was someone like that for me when I was younger and/or a young adult. My identity as a first-generation eldest daughter of immigrants has also influenced me to pursue a professional social work career because I always felt that responsibility and duty to help others. Not in a self-indulgent way, but in a way that always felt natural to me. I have always been someone who thrived in care-taking roles because I love communicating with others, listening to their stories, and making sense and meaning out their experiences, emotions, and thoughts. My own experience with therapy definitely helped push me in this direction as well because, as a client I was always in awe of my therapist and her ability to carefully help me dig deeper and find meaning. I like explanations and reasons – I don’t like feeling like I don’t know why or how something happened. If I can make meaning, it makes it easier for me to move forward with a goal and a purpose. I saw what good it did for me, and I felt the calling to help it do good for others as well. For this reason, I would like to work in adult mental health, mainly with young adult and adult populations – as I feel a passion for helping make sense of what is a tumultuous time and age for people filled with lots of change and growing pains. I’m not sure if I have a hard no on any populations at this point, but I do know that that is the population that I have a preference of working with.
I feel like you could use my answers to Part 2 Questions 1 and 2 to answer or respond to Questions 3 and 4, but if not pleas let m know so I can assist.
READINGS (cite at least 5 different sources overall (at least 1 per question) – use the ones any of the bolded ones at the bottom FOR SURE):
Singh, G. (2019). Anti-oppressive social work, neoliberalism, and neo-eugenics. In M. Lavalette
(Ed.). What is the future of social work? (pp.99-124). Bristol University Press: Policy Press.
PDF online:
Stoeffler, S. W., & Joseph, R. (2020). Poverty and social justice: The building stones of social work identity. Journal of Poverty, 24(4), 284299.
PDF online:
Wilkinson, R.G., & Pickett, K. (2024). Why the world cannot afford the rich. Nature, 627, 268-
270.
PDF online:
Kevin Pho (2024). The shocking power of patient stories in medicine. (16:37 mins)
Crenshaw, K. (2019). We still have not learned from Anita Hills testimony. UCLA Womens Law Journal, 26(1), 17 20.
Finney, K. & Fitzgerald, T. (2020). Chapter 1 A historical and contemporary look at race and exclusion in America. In The reality of diversity, gender, and skin color: From living room to classroom (pp. 3-16). Cognella Academic Publishing.
Lizzi, D. F. (2020). Classless: Classism in social work practice and the example of White rural
poverty. Smith College Studies in Social Work, 90(1-2), 724.
What is intersectionality? (7:17 in length):
Lekas, H.-M., Pahl, K., & Lewis, C. F. (2020). Rethinking cultural competence: Shifting to cultural humility. Health Services Insights, 13, 1-4.
PDF online:
Greater Good Science Center (n.d.). Bridging differences playbook, (pp. 4-38). University of California, Berkeley.
PDF online:
Owen, J., Tao, K., Drinane, J., Hook, J., Davis, D., & Kune, N. (2016). Client perceptions of therapists multicultural orientation: Cultural (missed) opportunities and cultural humility. Professional Psychology, Research and Practice,47(1), 3037.
Sue et al. (2016). Chapter 1 – Cultural diversity and implications for multicultural social work practice. In Multicultural social work practice (pp. 1-28). John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Husain, A. & Howard, S. (2017). Religious microaggressions: A case study of Muslim Americans. Journal of Ethnic & Cultural Diversity in Social Work, 26(1-2), 139-152.
PDF online:
Spencer, M. S. (2017). Microaggressions and social work practice, education, and research. Journal of Ethnic & Cultural Diversity in Social Work, 26(1-2), 1-5.
PDF online:
Sue, D.W., Alsaidi, S., Awad, M.N., Glaeser, E., Calle, C.Z., & Mendez, N. (2019). Disarming racial microaggressions: Microintervention strategies for targets, White allies, and bystanders. American Psychologist, 74(1), 128-142.
PDF online:
Loretta J. Ross (2022). Dont call people out call them in [Video]. TED.
Sue, D.W., & Sue, D. (2015). Chapters 11 Racial/Cultural identity development in people of color: Counseling implications. In Counseling the culturally diverse: Theory and practice. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Sue, D.W., & Sue, D. (2015). Chapters 12 White racial identity development: Counseling implications. In Counseling the culturally diverse: Theory and practice. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Native American identity in the 21st century (6:48 in length):
Where does the rise of identity politics leave people of mixed race? (6:57 in length):
Merleyn Bell (2016). Being biracial and becoming color brave [Video]. TEDx (13:34 in length)
Cox, C. (2020). Addressing anti-Semitism in SOWK education. Journal of Religion and Spirituality in Social Work: Social Thought, 40(2), 111-125.
Requirements: 6-8 pages MAX (not including the reference list and cover page)